Introduction
Wastelands may be defined as lands where the production of biomass is less than its optimum productivity. It can also be defined as any land which is not being used to its optimum productivity. Lands which have some limiting factors are also included in the categories of waste lands. It is also described as degraded lands which can be brought under vegetative cover with some reasonable efforts such as soil and water management.
Wastelands can be categorized into two groups that are cultivable waste lands and uncultivable waste lands, which are described below:
- Uncultivable waste lands
Waste lands on which vegetative cover cannot be developed that include barren rocky areas and snow covered or glacier areas.
These lands may also be used now or might have been used in the past for agriculture, forestry and grazing purposes. The main problems of such lands development are as follows:
- Low nutrient status
- Top soil completely washed way due to serious soil erosion
- Difficult surface due to the formation of gullies and landslides
- Lack of moisture due to aridity
- Development of toxicity in the soil in the root zone due to salinity, alkalinity and acidity
- Development of water logging
- Presence of rocks, boulders etc
- Problem of land use right
- Lack of financial resources to develop these lands.
2. Cultivable waste lands
Lands whose level of productivity of vegetative cover can be increased with or without inputs include:
- Land water logged in rainy season
- Degraded community lands
- Degraded forest lands
- River banks or flooded lands
- Soil eroded lands
- Roadsides
- Marginal private lands
- Terrace bunds, borders and slops
- Fallow lands and other lands lying unutilized